With almost all the players plying their trade in Europe, the playing field
for Latin American World Cups has been levelled and four heavyweight
football traditions clash

On a passport level the potentially glorious World Cup semi-finals this week are Europe against South America. Nobody would want to dismiss that continental symmetry, but this tournament is really a fiesta for players based in Germany, France, Italy, Portugal, England and Spain.

For illustration here are the clubs represented by the Argentina starting XI who beat Belgium 1-0 in Brasilia at the weekend: Monaco, Benfica, Manchester City (two), Lazio, Real Madrid, Napoli, Barcelona (two), Paris St-Germain and Monterey in Mexico. Just as Fred was the only Brazil-based player in Luiz Felipe Scolari’s initial starting XI here, so Monterey’s Jose Maria Basanta was the sole non-Europe-domiciled pick in the first Argentina side to reach the semi-finals in 24 years.

The correct billing for the showdowns in Belo Horizonte and Sao Paulo is Germany v Brazil and Argentina v Holland. Four great traditions clash. Spain excepted, these are the four nations most neutrals would have wanted to see in the penultimate round. And those who grumble that the quarter-finals failed to reach the operatic pitch of the group stage ought to find another sport.

Brazil against Colombia was a throwback macho classic with unfortunate consequences for Neymar’s back. Holland versus Costa Rica was enthralling, with a psychological (more than tactical) masterstroke at the end: Louis van Gaal’s decision to switch his goalkeeper for the penalty shoot-out.

Germany against France was a better game than it will have looked on television screens. Germany’s game management and composure in stifling heat were a marvel. Argentina v Belgium put the Belgian dark horse back in its box and featured a stunning first half from Lionel Messi, whose game is changing. Messi is now extending his repertoire to defence-lacerating passes from deep positions. As he enters his late twenties we can expect him to be less buzzy but even more lethal in his range of passing.

Culture and education still play a part in the make-up of all 44 contestants in Sao Paulo and Belo Horizonte. Each player is a product of his country’s technical education. But it never made sense to think Europe’s duck in Latin America World Cups would automatically go on waddling across Brazil. Aside from wildly varying conditions – English winter in Porto Alegre, Amazonian oven in Manaus – there is nothing in a Brazil World Cup to stop this supremely intelligent German squad adapting to the demands, though the Nationalmannschaft and Holland will both confront delirious home support.

Argentina’s followers turned Brasilia into Buenos Aires on Saturday. After the victory they teemed into a local shopping centre and sang the roof off. They are a legion pushing their team along. “This is amazing,” Messi said. “Argentina have gone a long time without doing this, and it was us who crossed the frontier.” They achieved it through Messi’s genius and by finally waking up Gonzalo Higuain before a textbook Argentina defensive siege saw them home with yet another 1-0 win.

“An ordinary side,” sniffed Marc Wilmots, Belgium’s coach, whose reversion to a long-ball game and failure to inspire his side to turn pressure into goals showed him to be a less gifted coach than he might think. Across the border, Holland are managed by a hardened sage who is using this World Cup as a personal showreel for his own tactical nous. Just about everything Van Gaal has tried late in games has worked as Dutch unity and strength sets up a rematch of the 1978 final in Buenos Aires, which Argentina won, and the Marseille quarter-final of 1998, where Holland prevailed.

On top of his game: Louis van Gaal keeps transforming games with his changes

With sports science to the fore – Dutch ice vests are an example – this tournament is a pseudo Champions League with flags in which the historic South American advantage has levelled off. European television money (and therefore player wages) has globalised the game to a point where the overwhelming majority of the 44 players on show are part of one elite culture.

Germany and Brazil, though, are the sides under most pressure. The pain would nag for decades if this generation of German players were to end their international careers without a trophy. Brazil face an even heftier weight. Without Neymar for the rest of the tournament, and their suspended captain Thiago Silva in Belo Horizonte, the hosts have lurched from excessive emotionalism (crying, with relief) to the more belligerent stance we saw in the Colombia game. This looks a smart change of emphasis by Scolari, the coach, who is from gaucho country and knows Germany will not be washed away by Brazilian tears.

History’s crutch for Scolari is that Brazil lost Pele in their second game in 1962 but still won their next four games. “I was out for the rest of the tournament,” he says, “but God helped Brazil continue on to win the championship.” The world football landscape is unrecognisable from 1962, however, and a Brazilian weakness now is a shortage of the kind of ingenuity they displayed from the 1950s through to the 1980s before European pragmatism took hold. A German full-back, Philipp Lahm, is officially the best passer of the tournament, not a shimmering Brazilian midfielder.

Along with Holland, Argentina have the best, or happiest bandwagon. They conceal their weaknesses cleverly and Messi has the mark of destiny. But they too have lost a star: Angel Di Maria, who limped out of the Belgium game with an injured thigh. The Messi-Di Maria link has been Argentina’s calling card. Holland could aim to flood the central midfield area where Alejandro Sabella, Messi’s manager, sometimes leaves a glaring gap.

Any permutation from the four semi-finalists would offer a fitting climax on Sunday at the Maracana, with a South American derby the most resonant, but an all-European tie better illustrative of how the world game looks now. Brazil is the setting, but globalising money is the context. But either way the soul of South America will show itself in the final week of this magnificent World Cup.